CRIMSON DAYS

**dystopian sci-fi, paranormal, erotic and interracial romance**

Chapter 7

My whirling emotions overwhelmed me. I didn’t know how to feel, or what to do.

Is this creature actually my loveable Roy?

As the question entered my mind, I started to wonder… What if this vampire was toying with me? What if he was using my inner fear and memories to confuse me? I’d never experienced the compelling influence of a master vampire, but I’d heard much about it, mainly from victims who were lucky enough to survive the encounter.

“You’re not Roy! Get the hell off me, demon,” I hissed.

Without another word, he slid back from me and disappeared into the shadows. Though, I could still feel his presence.

Pulling the lapels of my robe together, I sat up and scooted back until my back met the door. It took a few seconds for my breathing to steady and my frantic heartbeat to normalize. At last, my eyes adjusted to the darkness shrouding the small closet. I couldn’t completely see him, but I did see the outline of his figure.

He reached for the hilt sticking out of his neck. He sighed then released a throaty groan as he pulled on the grip. The sound of my blade sliding from his flesh assaulted my ears. The dagger clanked on the concrete when he tossed it to the floor. “Ahh, that feels much better.”

I heard the continuous click of UV bomb popping off light every five seconds on the other side of the door. It was going to continue the sequence until I turned it off. My hands felt empty. I needed to have a weapon in my possession.

My dagger was somewhere on the ground next to him. It’d be too risky to make a go for it. I wanted to grab another weapon from the box to my left, but I couldn’t move. My thoughts were all over the place.

What if this creature is really Roy?

“How do I know you’re not using your vampy powers to play some sick game with me?”

“Well for one thing, I haven’t eaten you yet.” There was laughter in the reply that drifted across my mind.

That only added to my aggravation. “You are delusional as hell if you think you’re in a position to joke with me. I can still kill you if I want to.” One of the most important techniques Steve taught me during my training was how to kill a vampire without the use of a weapon. It took a lot strength and quick thinking.

“After seeing you in action, I have no doubt about that.”

“Stop using telepathy on me and speak words out loud…” I snapped, leveling my finger at his dark figure. “Yooou filthy demon, who’s pretending to be my friend!”

“It hurts to talk. It’s taking a little longer for my vocal chords to heal, so please grant me this liberty, to communicate with you, without speaking.”

Hearing his voice in my head was tearing me to pieces. Holding back the need to scream, I fisted my dreads. “Of all the people you could torture me with, why would you take his image? You are so fucking cruel.”

He titled his head. For a long moment, he said nothing. “How could I prove it to you? That I’m still the man you befriended fifteen years ago? What can I say?” Sounded more like inner thoughts than actual questions directed at me. “Should I mention that I used to live right across the hall from you in our old apartment building in New York? How about mentioning your phobia for dogs, because a pit bull attacked you when you were nine. Or maybe I should mention at the age of seven you watched a malfunctioning android rip your mother apart, and it still hurts you ‘til this day.”

By the time he stopped stirring my emotions with his words, I was crying so hard, I couldn’t breathe. My eyes stung, my heart hurt. There were only a few people in my life that knew about the android incident; Amber—my old best friend, Steve and Roy.

Jesus Christ, it really is him!

“I’m so sorry, Lexi. I had to mention things from your past to prove I hadn’t simply read your thoughts.”

Hugging my legs to my chest, I sat there bawling like a baby, trembling and shaking, wishing he had chosen somewhere else to hide.

“I wanna hold you, sweetheart. I wanna hold you so badly, but I can’t. Not while I’m like this.”

“Stop! Stop it,” I whimpered on a sob. “Give me a moment to take this all in. Give me a moment to mourn your death. My God, I can’t believe this. You’re dead! And worst off, you’re goddamn vampire!”

“Oh, Lexi…”

I wallowed in the dark silence without restraining my sorrow. The minutes ticked by like hours. Finally, the tears stopped. I wiped at my eyes with

ALEXIS

the heels of my hands. “Okay, Roy…” I huffed out a deep breath and steadied my composure. “Why’d you come here?”

He didn’t answer. Yeah, it was Roy alright. The man never answered a question he thought you should already know the answer to.

“How long have you been hiding in here?”

His reply came out on a growl. “Long enough to know you’re still attracted to assholes.”

Heat soared to my face as a bout of embarrassment washed over me. He’d been here that long? Dammit. That meant he’d heard me when I lured

Sanjay into a bout of angry sex. Ugh… It was probably torturous for Roy to listen to that.

“Not as tortuous as you think,” he offered without me asking. “I enjoyed hearing you moan.” A lustful meaning lingered behind his words, but that’s not what sent me reeling.

“You better cut that shit out right now, Roy. No reading my mind. That is an invasion of privacy. It’s bad enough you’re using telepathy.”

“Well you’re the one screaming thoughts at me. Why don’t you think quieter?”

I wanted to laugh. I hadn’t moved past the shock of him being here and we had already fallen into our silly banter. “How did you get past the security—”

“By moving really fucking fast.”

“But the security drones…”

“Didn’t catch me.”

“How can you be so sure? Hell, I caught you with several stakes and you were moving pretty damn fast then.”

“Maybe you caught me because I wanted you to.”

My body quivered, my heart fluttered. “Roy…”

“Truthfully, I almost didn’t make it here. Those two UV domes are a pain in the ass. It’s a little excessive on the defense, don’t you think?”

“Apparently not excessive enough, considering you’re here. Speaking of which, how’d you get in here?”

“Believe it or not, it’s not that difficult to rewrite the security codes for this place. I just had to convince your system that I was you, then shut down the special vampire alarms to the building.”

I could totally believe that. The compound’s security was lax, since we figured a vampire would never make it this far. “Still a hacker at heart, I see,” I muttered, staring into the darkness.

ROY

Visions of his beautiful face entered my mind. Of course, it was how I remembered him, before vampirism took over. I wondered if his features changed much since the last time I saw him. When we were tussling, all I could see was a shadowy figure.

Suddenly, I needed to look at him, to see the man who I’d wish I could have once upon a time.

“Please don’t, Lexi. It’s not a pretty sight,” he cautioned.

Ignoring him, I called out. “Lights on.”

The ceiling light above flickered to life. The instant I laid eyes on Roy, I wished I would’ve remained in the dark.

Patches of blackened skin clung to his face. In other areas, his skin was missing completely, exposing his opened, raw flesh. He was literally burned from his head to his feet. The clothes he wore were in shreds, some parts stuck to his seared tissue.

He looked horrific.

Those familiar eyes were the only thing about him I recognized. Ten years ago, they were a deep cobalt blue, but now they were an icy artic blue, the color stripped by the effects of vampirism.

One leg was bent, the other was stretched out. Three of my stakes protruded from various parts of his body—his left thigh, the right side of his torso, and his shoulder.

I slapped both hands over my mouth to muffle my gasp. “Oh God, I did this,” I whimpered as more tears fell. “I did this to you.”

Smirking, he grabbed the stake sticking from his shoulder and yanked it out. A ribbon of crimson blood spiraled from the sharp tip. “More or less.”

I shot to my feet, covered my eyes and turned my back to him. “Lights out, lights out, LIGHTS OUT!” The bulb couldn’t shut off soon enough. I truly hated seeing him like that, as a grotesque image of the gorgeous man I used to know.

“Told you it I wasn’t a pretty sight.”

“Jesus, I almost killed you.” The realization hit me hard. When I attacked him, I had every intention of taking him out, and I most certainly could have.

He chuckled. The wet sound of another stake leaving his flesh made me cringe “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re not the first knight who’s tried to kill me, and I’m sure you won’t be the last.”

“Don’t laugh, it’s not funny. Roy!” I whirled around to glare at him. “Look at where you are! You have put me in an impossible position by coming here. Sure, you were crafty enough to get in, but there is no way in hell you’re getting out without facing a league of angry knights.”

“I had to come and see you,” he said on a whisper, no longer using telepathy. “If these are to be my last days, I can think of no better way to spend them than trying to get to the sun.”

Emotions I’d kept hidden surged to the forefront. I wanted to throw myself into his arms. I had to get out of this goddamn closet and put some distance between us. Not only to escape the nightmare I’d been tossed into, but to get away from my dark longing to have him.

Roy had always been that guy… the guy I shouldn’t have lusted for, the guy I shouldn’t have let get close to me, the guy who used to date my roommate and best friend back in the day. God! I’m a horrible human being. Even now, I felt the strong affection for him.

“Dammit, Roy!” I bit out on a growl. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me. Why now?”

His fangy smile shimmered through the black void. “Because you need me, and I need you.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” I grumbled under my breath. “I need you NOT to be here.” I waited two seconds after the click of the bomb sounded on the other side of the door, signifying a break between its burst of light. I slammed my hand into the exit button. As soon as the panel slid open, I lunged into the bedroom and disarmed the grenade.

The door slid shut behind me. I leaned against it, struggling to catch my breath, struggling to find my composure. “How long does it take you to heal?”

“Well, considering my injuries… Maybe an hour or two,” he answered gruffly. “Minutes, if I feed.”

A tide of heat plummeted through me and soared around my throbbing core. The image of him sinking his fangs into my neck entered my mind, pulling a breathy gasp out of me. I felt his presence near me, even though there was a door separating us. I imagined the pressure on my jugular, his body pressed against mine… The quivering between my thighs increased. “Oh hell no! You’re living on another side of crazy if you think I’m gonna let you feed from me. Not gonna happen, bruh!”

His husky laughter sailed through the panel. “There’s my girl.”

Holding back the smile that threatened to cross my face, I stepped away from the closet. A haze flooded my mind, making me lightheaded. I felt a migraine creeping in. Should be used to those by now. “Don’t come out of there, Roy.”

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. Hurts to move anyway.”

He said the healing process would take an hour or two. Good. While he was healing, I would use the time to thoroughly check the security footage. Just because he moved at the speed of sound doesn’t mean he could dodge a drone’s radar.

I giggled deliriously as I approached my com-screen. “This is not going to end well,” I muttered to myself. “They’re gonna kill us both.”

When the council found out I was harboring a master vampire, and there was no doubt in my mind they would, a battalion of knights would knock down my front door with orders to destroy him.

As a result, I would fight in blind rage and then they would be forced to kill me too.